Cale Loveridge's MiniPin Pinball Machines Are Printable on Almost Any 3D Printer — With One Spool

Maker Cale Loveridge has launched a crowdfunding campaign for playable pinball tables with a difference: they're miniaturized for printability on even compact 3D printers.

"MiniPin is a highly detailed, 3D printable miniature pinball machine that captures the look, feel, and charm of a full-size pinball machine in a compact desktop format," Loveridge explains of his creation. "From the cabinet and backbox to the side rails, lockdown bar, pinball legs, arcade-inspired buttons, plunger, and interchangeable playfields, MiniPin recreates the iconic elements of traditional pinball in miniature form."

MiniPin is far from the first do-it-yourself pinball table design, but it comes with a couple of twists to the usual formula — both of which make it more accessible to the maker on a budget. The first is size: not only is the table miniaturized for desktop use, measuring just 170mm wide and 345mm deep (around 6.7" wide and 13.6" deep), but its parts fit within the 180×180×180mm (around 7.09×7.09×7.09") build volume of low-cost home-grade fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printers.

The second tweak helps to keep the price down: the entire cabinet for a single MiniPin machines can be printed, Loveridge says, from a single standard 1kg spool of PLA filament, reducing the material cost and the need to swap spools partway through a print — though if you want a multi-color cabinet without breaking out the paints you'll need a spool for each of your chosen colors.

The MiniPin's playfields are inspired by full-size machines, and interchangeable: if you're bored of one table you can quickly swap it out for another, with three designs included at launch and more promised if the crowdfunding campaign reaches its stretch goals. "MiniPin was never designed to be a 'build it once and put it on a shelf' project," Loveridge says. "It was designed to evolve, grow, and provide new experiences for years to come."

The MiniPin is currently funding on Kickstarter, with STL downloads starting at AU$50 (around $35) for "founding" early-bird backers or $150 (around $106) for commercial rights to sell printed units; files are expected to be delivered in September this year, though as with all crowdfunding campaign's there's no guarantee of fulfillment and no money-back offer if the project fails.